Each year, hundreds of international researchers enter Greenland to conduct scientific fieldwork. Historically, they have had little interaction with local communities and scientists at Greenland research institutes. Recognising that collaboration between Greenland and the United States can yield better research, consider more diverse perspectives, articulate the benefits of research to Greenland society, and train the next generation in a collaborative framework, representatives from both countries have been engaged in a series of events to cultivate bilateral relationships. Here, we describe the process of these events (workshops, conference sessions, and public dialogues), the findings, and the outcomes that have followed. Prior to this focused engagement, United States and Greenland scientists typically pursued their research independently. Since the engagement, more researchers from both countries have successfully partnered to obtain funding for collaborative research. Furthermore, development of a bilateral collaboration network is underway. The focused approach on bilateral engagement also proved essential for maintaining research and other activities during the global pandemic. When United States researchers were prevented from entering Greenland, their Greenland partners were able to continue the fieldwork, ensuring that progress was not lost. Future international projects can build on these successes to expand collaborative and interdisciplinary research in Greenland.

Clinical trial participation among historically underrepresented populations remains low in large part due to mistrust of academic institutions and research investigators. Mistrust may be ever greater today given misinformation related to COVID-19. The Research Ambassador Program is an interactive educational workshop delivered by Promotoras de Salud/Community Health Workers and designed to both address common myths, fears, and concerns about research and encourage research participation among underrepresented populations. An evaluation conducted with 819 Latino and Black participants demonstrated a change in behavior and intention to participate in a clinical trial, with half of participants enrolling in a clinical trial research registry.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) seeks to improve upon the translational process to advance research and treatment across all diseases and conditions and bring these interventions to all who need them. Addressing the racial/ethnic health disparities and health inequities that persist in screening, diagnosis, treatment, and health outcomes (e.g., morbidity, mortality) is central to NCATS’ mission to deliver more interventions to all people more quickly. Working toward this goal will require enhancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) in the translational workforce and in research conducted across the translational continuum, to support health equity. This paper discusses how aspects of DEIA are integral to the mission of translational science (TS). It describes recent NIH and NCATS efforts to advance DEIA in the TS workforce and in the research we support. Additionally, NCATS is developing approaches to apply a lens of DEIA in its activities and research – with relevance to the activities of the TS community – and will elucidate these approaches through related examples of NCATS-led, partnered, and supported activities, working toward the Center’s goal of bringing more treatments to all people more quickly.

Structural racism in the USA has roots that extend deep into healthcare and medical research, and it remains a key driver of illness and early death for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). Furthermore, the persistence of racism within academic medicine compels an interrogation of education and research within this context. In the spirit of this interrogation, this article highlights a unique model of community-engaged education that integrates cultural humility. As an individual and institutional stance, cultural humility denotes lifelong learning and self-critique, the mitigation of power imbalances, and accountability. The integration of cultural humility emphasizes that when space is created for BIPOC communities to lead the way, education regarding healthcare and research can be effectively reimagined. Demonstrating this effectiveness, six community partners led the development and implementation of a five-module Structural Racism in Healthcare and Research course. Using a cohort model approach, the pilot course enrolled 12 community members and 12 researchers. The curriculum covered topics such as history of racism in healthcare and research, and introduced participants to a cultural resilience framework. Evaluation results demonstrated a significant increase in participants’ knowledge and ability to identify and take action to address inequities related to racism in healthcare and research.

Climate change threatens archaeological sites and cultural landscapes globally. While to date, awareness and action around cultural heritage and climate change adaptation planning has focused on Europe and North America, in this article, the authors address adaptation policy and measures for heritage sites in low- and middle-income countries. Using a review of national adaptation plans, expert survey and five case studies, results show the varied climate change adaptation responses across four continents, their strengths and weaknesses, and the barriers to be addressed to ensure better integration of cultural heritage in climate change adaptation planning.

In addition to facing numerous healthcare disparities, rural America is chronically underrepresented in clinical research. This gap was made more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. St Lawrence Health, located in rural Upstate New York, established its Clinical and Rural Health Research Department in 2015 to help close this gap. The research department then launched the DISRUPTS (Developing InfraStructure for Research to Utilize Patient-centered Techniques at St Lawrence Health System) program to build the infrastructure to conduct Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR). Together with a diverse committee, the team used proven methods and frameworks to develop a model for engagement, content creation, and education delivery that was successfully used to create educational programs on PCOR and COVID-19. The resulting DISRUPTS webinars had a combined total of over 450 live attendees and over 1,110 views on recordings. Furthermore, nearly one-third of those who participated in the COVID-19 vaccines webinar indicated they were more likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after taking part. DISRUPTS can serve as an important model for other rural communities that aim to increase access to and engagement in PCOR, and which hope to improve outreach and education efforts in their communities.

The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the nonprofit Bidwell Training Center co-developed a new program for translational workforce diversification and development to foster diversity and inclusion in clinical research. The STricklAnd Research Training (START) program provides students in the Medical Assistant program at Bidwell a career path in clinical research. We created a 12-hour didactic package that covers responsible conduct of human subjects research and good clinical practice as an add-on to existing vocational curriculums. Students have the option of completing a clinical research-related externship at Pitt, which includes mentoring, shadowing, and protocol-specific training on a study team whose intention is to hire them as a clinical research assistant. Those who accept a position at Pitt receive continued mentorship, education, and professional development through Pitt CTSI. In the first three cohorts, two of which had access to research externships at Pitt, 92% of students successfully completed the instruction in clinical research. We plan to expand START to new venues to train and hire local community members from diverse backgrounds who can bring their lived experience to research programs.

In this manuscript, “Intersectional Structural Stigma, Community Priorities, and Opportunities for Transgender Health Equity,” Poteat and Simmons outline the legal and policy barriers that impede efforts to end the HIV epidemic among transgender people in the South. They present qualitative and quantitative data from a community engaged research study conducted with transgender adults and other key stakeholders as well as finding from an analysis of policies impacting transgender people in both states. Violence prevention and decriminalization are highlighted as key policy initiatives that would advance health equity for transgender people.

Despite the adversity presented by COVID-19 pandemic, it also pushed for experimenting with innovative strategies for community engagement. The Community Research Advisory Council (C-RAC) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), is an initiative to promote community engagement in research. COVID-19 rendered it impossible for C-RAC to conduct its meetings all of which have historically been in person. We describe the experience of advancing the work of the C-RAC during COVID-19 using digital and virtual strategies. Since March 2020, C-RAC transitioned from in person to virtual meetings. The needs assessment was conducted among C-RAC members, and individualized solutions provided for a successful virtual engagement. The usual working schedule was altered to respond to COVID-19 and promote community engaged research. Attendance to C-RAC meetings before and after the transition to virtual operation increased from 69% to 76% among C-RAC members from the community. In addition, the C-RAC launched new initiatives and in eighteen months since January 2020, it conducted 50 highly rated research reviews for 20 research teams. The experience of the C-RAC demonstrates that when community needs are assessed and addressed, and technical support is provided, digital strategies can lead to greater community collaborations.

COVID-19 has widened the existing digital divide, especially for people from socially and economically deprived communities. We describe a program evaluation using a community participatory approach to develop self-reported items of patient experience with technology inclusive of digital access and literacy. The feedback received from Community Advisory Boards and Community Engagement Studio members led to the evaluation and refinement of the individual items. The community-based participatory approach highlighted in our paper to develop these items could serve as a model for other screening tool development for enhancing equity and inclusiveness in clinical care and research.